MOU signed with bank for Vt3 billion Court buildings

A historic occasion has been witnessed yesterday afternoon as the minister responsible for Justice in Vanuatu, Alfred Carlot, together with the President of the United Development Bank of Pacific (UDPP), Kevin Lai signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the financing of an important project amounting to Vt3 billion.

Minister Carlot said the project will include the new Hall of Justice in Port Vila, and the building of new court buildings in Luganville, Santo, Saratamata in Penama Province, Lakatoro on Malekula and Isangel on Tanna.

Since the burning of the Supreme Court Building almost 10 years ago, the Judiciary has been housed in temporary locations, even including renting buildings to deliver the justice guaranteed by the Constitution.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister of Justice said “this is not good enough for a country like Vanuatu that prides itself in the Protection of the People’s Rights, the up-holding of the Rule of Law, and Access to Justice for its people.

Minister Carlot, who referred to the Hall of Justice issue as a “long-standing story” stressed that the Government of Vanuatu, and especially the ministry under his leadership cannot continue to be seen to be taking its duty lightly.

“It is for this very reason , that I, as minister responsible have taken this decision, especially after the Prime Minister’s Two days retreat recently, to move this project forward, and that is to secure the funding for the court buildings in each of the provinces, and importantly, the Hall of Justice”.

The minister explained further, “The Funding arrangements will be made through an MOU Cooperation Agreement with the United Development Bank of Pacific, which will be processed through the normal Government legal processes, first through a DCO and a Council of Ministers Paper (next week), and then through the National Parliament, scheduled to take place next month”.

In his response, President Lai of UDPP said they are grateful to assist Vanuatu. He assured the minister that as soon as paper works are finalised and approved by the government of Vanuatu, works shall begin. Lai added that the construction of the Convention center took two years to build, but the construction of the Hall of Justice should take less than two years to complete.

He was accompanied by a delegation which included significant representatives of different investment groups investing in Asia and the Pacific. A member of the delegation was representing the Chinese construction company who is currently building the National Convention Center.